VIVID: Ending
by Working-On-Sanity
Summary: "I see you've come back." Everyone knew that there would be an ending, but no one expected it to end like this. Promises mean nothing...even Naruto's promise of never giving up. Everyone gives up- there is always an ending. The last battle- death-fiction.


**VIVID: Ending**

**Summary: **Everyone knew that there had to be an end- but why was it that no one expected it turn out in such a way? Promises mean nothing...even Naruto's promise of never giving up couldn't be permanently kept. Everyone gives up in the end.**  
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**A/N: **_Everyone who has written a Naruto fiction has probably written a death-fic. But, as you can see, that doesn't stop me. This fiction is my take on how the Naruto: Shippuden series will end, even though I think that there will probably be another series after Shippuden to finish it. But, anyway- the epic battle between Naruto and Sasuke. My goals in this were to keep them in character, and I hope that I succeeded. I also tried to describe the action well, so you can get a clear picture of their movements in your mind. This will be a two-shot, and after I finish it, I'll go back to my other fiction. Please enjoy!_

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_"So, you've come back again, huh."

Sasuke's voice held no raising note, not signifying a question, because his words were not meant to be answered. He had known that Naruto was coming to Oto'ka'gure- it hadn't frightened him to know that. No one had told him of the Jin'chu'ri'ki's expected arrival- there was no need to inform the rogue Shinobi of that fact.

Because he knew, from the two years of being a member of Squad Seven, that Naruto never gave up. For the sake of their 'friendship', the bonds of which Sasuke had long ago deemed 'broken', Naruto had pushed himself to his limit.

In that span of five years, Naruto had trained, not for his status as Jin'chu'ri'ki of Team Kakashi, not for the village, and not even to further improve his abilites so there was a higher chance of being chosen as Ho'kage- his sweat, his spilled blood, his broken sobs, every pain he bore was not for himself, but for Sasuke.

As the blonde stared up at the raven through half-lidded eyes, his autumn sky-blue orbs seeming darker than they had appeared before, he felt the too-familiar tightness squeeze his throat. The constricting sensation clenched with such a force that he could not swallow, but no tears misted his vision.

He had cried too much already- he cried while in his room at night, he cried when a comrade fell in war, and he broke down to the point of wailing when he trained, feeling his palms burn, seared by anger-heated Cha'kra, spurred on only by the thoughts of Team Kakashi, brought together to never be disbanded again. He had been so childish, retaining his stupid naivete for much too long.

Sasuke's departure had allowed him to grow up. But along with his maturing, came a heavy heartedness, and an emptiness that could not be filled, by laughter, or ramen, or throwing himself into the Ho'kage's chair, propping his feet on mahogany desk to pretend that he owned the entire Land of Fire. It was the emptiness of near-despair, the hollow feeling of loss.

"Yes, I've _come_ back- and this time, Sasuke- I'm not _going_ back." Naruto jerked his head up, his determined gaze delving into Sasuke's empty black eyes. The raven made no motion of surprise at the whiskered teenager's certain words, but cockily rested his weight on one foot, his left hip protruding as he rested his hand on the curve. His gesture stated, plainly even without words, that Sasuke was not concerned about to wherever their encounter might lead.

"Tch," the Uchiha made a snapping noise with his tongue, a false mask of obviously-sarcastic pity flitting over his smooth features. "You're still the same- Naruto." He rolled the name easily, without emotion, without love or affection- it was as though he were reading the name of a stranger.

"You haven't gotten better," he continued, "or smarter, or stronger in all this time, have you? But I have. I haven't wasted the days of my life trying to fulfill impossible dreams," he spat the last word, showing his distaste for such trivial acts, "or trying to get _someone_ to notice me, unlike you have. I haven't wasted myself on laughter and spending time with teammates. It's only another one of our differences- I have used my time to get stronger. So, for once, you are correct- 'you have come back, and you aren't going back'. I've been too gentle with you- twice, already, I've failed to kill you. But I guess I can finally push you out of the way."

The corners of Sasuke's wind-chapped lips rose in a smile that shocked Naruto. The raven's expression seemed, for a fleeting moment, tender, like a mother watching her child; like a young man peering into his beloved wife's eyes- Sasuke appeared gentle, almost like a little child himself, able to be touched, capable of being held and kissed.

And the tears that Naruto thought he had suppressed came to his eyes, spilling over, not bothering to subside for any amount of time, but rushing to escape, slipping down his roughened cheek, down his whisker-marked jaw, to fall, unnoticed, onto the sandy ground, causing dark circles to fan across the soft, silver surface.

_How can you smile, Sasuke? How can you smile...when I'm crying? _The Jin'chu'ri'ki raised his fist, angrily rubbing his knuckles against his closed eyelid, smearing the salty, hot tears across his face to clear his hazed vision.

"Are you just going to stand motionless, crying, Naruto?" Sasuke's beautiful smile had vanished, his neutral expression returned. His black eyes, no spark of any feeling in them, stared into Naruto's eyes, the Uchiha not afraid to let his gaze bore defiantly into the blonde's. His lips had fallen back into the small, thin line, neither a frown or a smile, void of both sorrow and happiness.

The Shinobi were not only opposites in heart and personality, but appearance, as well. Naruto's skin was darkened by the sun's rays, turned a healthy bronze; his cheeks were roughened by the biting winds, smudged with dirt, but yet glowing with a subtle rosy tint. His eyes were round and blue, but the orbs seemed to be made of the sky- when one looked closely, there appeared to be white wisps of cloud in his eyes. One knew it was only the reflection of the heavens, but it seemed to fit Naruto, as his grown-out bangs hung over his forehead, the golden, coarse, uneven locks like the sun, giving off light, not keeping the warmth for itself, but sharing the brightness.

Naruto was a source of light in anyone's life.

Sasuke's skin was smooth, soft as a young child's, as though he had never been exposed to harsh weather, or had carried out any work to earn calloused fingertips. The vest he wore was as black as his spiked locks of silken hair, making his exposed torso seem whiter than his flesh really was. It was as though he had never stayed out in the open sunlight long enough to gain any color to his skin- he had not stayed around Naruto long enough to allow his personality to shine with a ruddy health. He had slipped away into the darkness, where any bit of tint had drained from his body, leaving him as pale as death.

His eyes were slanted and narrow, his midnight-black orbs always half-lidded, making him appear listless and bored, which was true in most cases. Everything was too simple for him, too childish for him to participate in. He was above that- he was above _them_.

"Why can't you get it, Sasuke?" Naruto shouted, closing his eyes tightly. His scratchy voice melted into the breathy howl of the wind, but he continued to scream at the stoic raven, his red anger leaping upwards into a burning white flame, licking his throat to be let out in a series of shrieking words.

"Why can't you understand why I've been doing this? I thought you were still Sasuke- the 'Sasuke-teme' that was my best friend! I should have learned it a long, long time ago, when you left me there in the valley- but I still thought that maybe you still had a mind! I thought that maybe, if I beat you half to death, you would let me bring you home!"

His cry floated across the open expanse of dry, cracked land, disappearing completely. The nearly-bare trees rustled in the wind, and that was all that could be heard.

Sasuke's eyelids lowered further, only a small portion of his black irises showing. It seemed as though he would topple over at any moment, lost in sleep, but he had learned that his groggy demeanor could fool many people. Once they thought that he was ready to close his eyes completely, he could whip his katana from its sheath and run the silver blade through flesh, crimson blood spattering over his own white skin, and he could watch the pain-clouded eyes slipped closed as the last breath was gasped for.

But no matter what, he wouldn't close his eyes.

He had promised himself a long time ago that he would never allow himself to let his eyes close completely.

"Are you finished whining yet?" Sasuke drawled, the look of misery flashing across Naruto's face not affecting him, not causing his heart to flutter with guilt. He didn't feel regretful.

There was a long list of emotions that he didn't feel.

But there had been a blank page, unmarked, where his true feelings should have been recorded. So if he felt nothing, why had the bottle of ink fallen on its side, spilling its darkness over the white rice paper, marring its perfection- why had he suddenly become confused inside, a tangled mass of ruin when Naruto had made his presence known?

"Sasuke!" Naruto clenched his fists, his tanned, bruised knuckles cracking loudly. "Sasuke, I never give up. I've _never _given up on something important! But...you've gotten too strong for me to bring you back," he mumbled. The rest of his words were addressed to himself, not for others to hear:

"You've gotten stronger than me- but that doesn't mean that I'll let you hurt me again. You can't come back to Ko'no'ha, because you've turned into something that none of us want to have around...We've turned our backs on you, Sasuke, because because you've turned your back on us. If it's been this long, you won't turn around and run back to us...I can't lead you back to Ko'no'ha, walking alongside you while you're breathing, so I'm going to have to bring you back, in my arms, while you...are lifeless."

_But how can I kill someone so precious to me? _As if he had forgotten that Sasuke was still staring down at him drowsily, Naruto sank his teeth into his lower lip, feeling something hard press mercilessly against his ribcage, pushing against his heart. He had put long hours of tear-filled thought into his decision, and he knew that he could no longer plead with Sasuke to come back to the village with him. Sasuke had grown colder, father away from the smiling peacefulness of Ko'no'ha- and one could always stray too far away to find the right path once more.

_I have to kill you, Sasuke- it would hurt me more than anyone else, but it will benefit the village, and Hokage-sama...but more than them, it will stop you from doing something else to drag yourself down. _

"Naruto? Are you going to stand there all day, crying about me? I cannot say that I'm flattered," Sasuke informed in an idle tone. "If you're so intent on bringing me back to your village," he said mockingly, "why don't you actually _do_ something about it, instead of acting like a little girl?" He watched as Naruto bristled, his body tensing visibly, and Sasuke knew that his insult had stung.

"If what you're saying means 'I want to fight' in fancy language, then...then I guess you'll have to make the first move." The blonde lowered his head submissively, as if granting the other teenager a favor; a crimson cloud passed over his pupils, spreading over the crisp blue, washing over the azure orbs like blood through water. The ground suddenly appeared much sharper and clearer than he had seen it a moment ago, and he knew that his round pupils had stretched into cat-like slits.

"If you think that I'm going to waste Cha'kra on Ju'tsu, while you build up a Bi'ju Cha'kra shield that cannot be penetrated, you are more stupid than I thought," Sasuke murmured. Slowly, he slid his hand across his hip, reaching to his backside, feeling his fingers meet the cool leather of his katana sheath.

"Maybe...I'm not that stupid."

Sasuke's eyes widened, his pupils seeming to shrink as his heart rate quickened from shock. Naruto's voice was right at his ear, his hot breath stirring his long bangs, gently blowing the soft black locks against his cheek.

_How did he get up here without me seeing his Kage Bun'shin seals?_ Without having to think about the sequence of his actions, the Uchiha slightly crouched, muscles tensing, then pushed himself upwards, bouncing from the ground like a spring, the small whirls of evaporating Cha'kra swirling in his stead. Before the Bunshin could react, his reflexes slower than the original, Sasuke brought his foot upwards, crashing the toe of his sandal into the duplicate's chin. Without any yelp of pain, the blonde wavered for a moment, before vanishing in a large cloud of dissipating Cha'kra.

_Shoot- he distracted my attention with the Bun'shin, and even though it was only for a second, he could be anywhere now! I was underestimating his first move...but still, Uzumaki Naruto has never been extremely developed with subtle attacks. _The raven took a stance, quickly jerking his katana to hold it in front of him, the blade held at an angle to ward off any blows to his most easily-damaged areas. His eyes were squinted as he surveyed the open area, his observant gaze sweeping over the empty stretch of ground- even though there were no places to hide, trained Shinobi could easily transfer their Cha'kra to a inanimate object, thus allowing their body to disappear.

Naruto could have been any of the scraggly bushes that clutched at the edges of the cracks in the ground that they pushed their head through, or he could have been any of the pebbles that littered the surface of the silt.

_Tch, he really is an idiot if he believes that such a simple technique will confuse me. Has he forgotten my Kek'kei Gen'kai?_

Without effort, Sasuke's ebony orbs bled into scarlet, tiny black tomoe circling his pupil- and the entire world burst into a startling contrast of negative colors. The sparse leaves of the bushes flashed into a bright blue, the azure sky darkening to a deep burgundy purple- in the midst of all the dizzying colors, Sasuke's head feeling light, never becoming accustomed to the odd shades of blue and purple, there was a sharp flare of red, glowing lividly, leaping upward from one of the thin, curl-branched trees.

"I know where you are, Naruto...why don't you actually do something that I haven't seen before?" he murmured, leaping from the overhanging cliff, darting so rapidly through the scarce trees that his lithe, pale body was nothing but a smear of color.

_He's easier now than he was two years ago, _he noted silently, but his expression darkened as he realized that there was the possibility that the Jin'chu'ri'ki was tricking him into believing that he was, plainly put, weak and stupid. And once he lowered his defense, Naruto could carry out any of a number of lethal Ju'tsu.

_Hn, _the raven smirked, perched easily on the lower limb of the tree, staring down at the smaller sa'ku'ra plant which contained Naruto's red Cha'kra, _but even if he could do a Ju'tsu such as that, I doubt he'd use it on me. He's too afraid to kill me, because he still thinks that I consider him my friend. This will be simple._

To show how little he really did believe that Naruto would do anything drastic, Sasuke never activated the Man'ge'kyo Sha'rin'gan, the powerful, most advanced eye bloodline limit, the red orbs of which had once, two years ago, been a part of his older brother's body. But now, Uchiha Itachi's eyes were in Sasuke's possession, never to dull again.

Without another thought, the raven began to clap his hands together and interlace his fingers in a variety of seals, each motion sending slightly painful bursts of Chak'ra to his chest, gathering there in a searing, compact ball. He had done the Ju'tsu so often that the burning in his throat was only a nuisance, but more than the physical pain, came the mental pain of remembrance- everytime he would do Go'kya'kyu no Ju'tsu, it reminded him of his childhood, causing the suppressed memories to resurface.

It caused a small trembling in his mind when he recalled how often he had practiced the Ju'tsu, hoping to gain his father's approval. Every time he spat out the visible Cha'kra, which ignited into a hurling inferno as it left his lips, he remembered how the fire had burned the insides of his cheeks and scorched his tongue, when he had been too inexperienced to time the Ju'tsu correctly.

"Ka'ton: Go'kya'kyu no Ju'tsu!" He lifted his fingers to his lips quickly, not allowing any time for Naruto to remove his Cha'kra from the tree, and heaved for breath, expelling the heated air with a sharp whuff. The air thickened with the smell of smoke, and from the small flame that Sasuke had breathed out, exploded an enormous sphere of red fire, turning to charred ashes any flammable object it sucked in.

"I won't fall for that- Ta'ju Ka'ge Bun'shin no Ju'tsu!" Naruto retaliated with his specialty Ju'tsu, Sasuke's Sha'rin'gan easily able to pick up Naruto's light-speed movements, the blonde whipping through the seals faster than any unaided eye could make out. Before the ball of flame could engulf the tree, a mass of Bun'shins- hundreds of exact replicas of the whiskered boy, appeared in front of the sa'ku'ra tree, creating a shield around Naruto, slowing the inferno just enough to allow him to race away.

The fire swallowed the tree, burning its soft pink petals to ash, charring the bark to a hard, flaking black.

_I guess I'll have to actually do something to win this. Should I use dozens of C-rank Ju'tsu, one after another, or should I active Man'ge'kyo Sha'rin'gan and hit him with Ama'tera'su, to end it quickly? _Sasuke inwardly cringed, _I couldn't waste strength on such a powerful Ju'tsu- Naruto isn't that strong. Hn, all he's done so far is defensive Ju'tsu, not offensive...this could stretch on for a long while._

Naruto stampeded over the plain, his footsteps loud and rapid, raising small trails of dust as he put more distance between himself and the raven. _I need to do it, before I break down...I'm already shaking. _Taking his eyes off the stretch of ground ahead of him, he continued his hasty run as he looked down at his hands.

Normally so steady, capable of lobbing a Ra'sen'gan at a target without wavering, his tanned hands were trembling slightly. His palms stung, from holding the compressed spheres of bare Cha'kra as he had trained the day before, causing burns on his flesh that he would have carried for several days. Being the Jin'chu'ri'ki of the Kyu'bi no Yo'ko, though, the pain would subside and the injury would disappear the next day, as the fox spirit was easily able to heal him with its own blood-red Cha'kra.

_Bi'ju'da'ma...Tailed Beast Bomb. Black Cha'kra, mixed with white, at an eight-to-two ratio. Mold it just like a regular Ra'sen'gan, but make sure to have the right ratio, or else it will blow up in my face. But under a nerve-frying condition like this one, I might not be able to mix the Cha'kra right, and I'll end up killing myself, instead of Sasuke._

_But I'm glad that I was able to lure Sasuke to this open area, so there won't be too much damage, and it wouldn't put anyone else in danger... and it will be difficult, too, for Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei to find us. _

_Sorry, Sakura-chan. I know you wanted to see Sasuke. I know that you love him, even though you tried to cover it by by pretending to like me. I know you wanted to fight him, too- but I have to. I promised him that __**I **__would come to fight him, not you, or Kakashi-sensei._

_I'm sorry to you, too, Sensei. You told me to stay in Ko'no'ha, and I didn't listen. You were going to send out yet another team, another four people who would die unnecessarily. But this way, no one will be killed but my target, and possibly myself. _

"Are you running away, yet again?"

Sasuke appeared, in a haze of Cha'kra steam, merely five feet in front of the blonde. His eyes, even in their comical half-closed state, seemed to bore into Naruto's with a fierceness that was hard to comprehend, matching the icy-coldness of his voice. His long bangs stroked his pale cheeks as they were controlled by the wind, the silk-like strands seeming to glow with a soft blue sheen as the sun beat down on them. A halo of light outlined his slim, lightly-muscled figure, the glow making him appear too beautiful to be a boy who was intent on the murder of another.

"I'm not going to run away from you, Sasuke- I've done that already. Maybe I should have asked you that, when you left!"

With a loud cry, Naruto clenched his fist, hurling himself carelessly at the raven. Without a single twitch of expression, not even a spark of fright in his gaze, Sasuke lifted his hand, clutching Naruto's dirt-smeared hand in his, a mere millisecond before the fist crashed into his shoulder.

"You've always been terrible with Tai'ju'tsu," the Uchiha remarked quietly, gently squeezing the blonde's fist. He listened to Naruto's knuckles pop in response to the growing force with which he squeezed, the whiskered boy's crimson eyes widening in surprise.

"Terrible with Tai'ju'tsu," Sasuke repeated softly, stroking the smooth pads of his fingers over the back of Naruto's hand, "but...still, somehow, you managed. You always have- you've always been able to surpass everyone else, even in areas that you started out terribly in. But I'll tell you something- Naruto." He leaned closer, the blonde seemingly frozen to the ground. The pace of Naruto's heart doubled in its speed, causing a throbbing in his chest that was choking him, sucking his breath away and making his cheeks flush from suffocation.

The tip of Sasuke's nose touched the shell of his ear, the raven's soft, pink lips brushing his skin, his warm breath sending shudders coursing through Naruto's body as he whispered, "You may have become better than anyone else in the Five Nations- except for me. I admit your strength- you have become great. You would be a capable Ho'kage- if you lived long enough. But someone else will have to lead your village in its hopeless, weak existence...because you won't be going back. You won't have breath long enough to step away from this field."

Naruto couldn't swallow the moisture that collected in his mouth- it was as though he were in a trance, hearing and seeing, but unable to react. What was happening to him- _why couldn't he move away? _His scarlet orbs weren't darting in fear- they were fixed on the edge of the stretch of land, not moving from the peak of the far-off structure, which he knew was the exit gate from Oto'ka'gure.

_Would _he ever leave? He had planned on it- for long hours, during the sleepless nights, the thoughts would come, unbidden, to his mind. He had made futile attempts at blocking the images, but they came rushing to him, nonetheless. He would toss beneath the blankets, the coppery smell of blood making his chest heave from nausea. The sickening sight of narrow eyes filling with tears, the ebony pupils dimming to a soft gray, had haunted his being for weeks now- he knew that those eyes belonged to Sasuke. No pondering had gone into that certainty- he knew.

Other pictures had burned themselves into his mind, whipping through so quickly that he could barely distinguish them one from another- Sasuke, laying with his head in Naruto's lap, the rogue Shinobi's dark hair spilling over his thighs, the raven's eyes still half-closed, but clouded with a pain that was more agonizing than being torn apart by Ju'tsu. His lips slightly parted, a deep crimson liquid bubbling at the corners of his mouth, he slowly lifted his hand, the blood smeared over his palm, raising his hand to the sun, shielding his dimming eyes from the bright rays.

But everything went dark after that- Naruto couldn't remember what his dreams had thrown to him after that. He had pushed his face into the pillow, his forehead slick with sweat- what had happened to him, and Sasuke? All he saw was the Uchiha's slender hand, his smooth white fingers coated in thick blood, reaching for the sun.

_Sasuke...why are you trying to hold the light now? When it's too late? For so long, you clung to the blackness...why are you trying to grab the sunshine now, when you're choking from trying to breathe?_

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_**A/N: **_There will be one more chapter, then I shall deem this monster over. Pretty much everyone has written a death-fiction, but it varies, as some people have different opinions about who is going to die, or if either of them are going to die at all. _

_I'm debating on whether on not to have a sequel to this. If you think that a sequel would be okay, tell me! If you hated this, then just don't read the next chapter. _

_This is slight SasuNaru, in case you skipped over the hints. But it's just slight, so there won't be anything that teenagers can't read. _

_Reviews are welcomed! Thanks!  
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